66 Bible verses about the power of Fasting

The power of fasting really lies in honestly opening your heart to the Lord. It's in that space where His love shines through and transforms every part of who you are. Fasting is something you do when you’re truly seeking Jesus, when you're willing to sacrifice physical needs to ask for a deeper connection with Him.

It strengthens your spirit, grows your faith, and draws you closer to God. By saying "no" to the physical demands of your body, you're saying "yes" to a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. It's about prioritizing that connection above all else.

When you abstain from food or drink for a set time, it’s like a spiritual and physical cleanse. It helps to clear away anything that might be holding you back or weighing you down.

Remember what Matthew 6:16-17¹ says – it's not about showing off or seeking attention when you fast. It's about humility and sincerity before the Lord.

But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day.

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy words' sake.

Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men {\i and} all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.\par

And Cornelius said, Four days ago, until this hour, I was keeping the ninth hour of prayer in my house; and behold, a man stood before me in bright apparel,

And Jesus said unto them, {\cf6 Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.

Then touched he their eyes, saying, {\cf6 According to your faith be it done unto you.}

Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah?

Wherefore have we fasted, {\i say they}, and thou seest not? {\i wherefore} have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find {\i your own} pleasure, and exact all your labors.

Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.\par

Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly;

Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.\par

And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:\par\tab I afflicted my soul with fasting;\par\tab And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am.\par\par\tab If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday;and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.\par

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wildernessduring forty days, being tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days: and when they were completed, he hungered.

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto Jehovah; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek {\i help} of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.\par

When I wept, {\i and chastened} my soul with fasting,\par\tab That was to my reproach.

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until even; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah.

Defraud ye not one the other, except it be by consent for a season, that ye may give yourselves unto prayer, and may be together again, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.

And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.

And they said unto him, The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the {\i disciples} of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink.And Jesus said unto them, {\cf6 Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?But the days will come; and when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast in those days.}

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh {\i month}, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am.\par\par\tab If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday;

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto Jehovah; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you.\par

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh {\i month}, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it not.\par

And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God.

Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, {\i or} with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?\par

Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?And Jesus said unto them, {\cf6 Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, {\i which is} your spiritual service.And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.\par

In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.\par

but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.\par

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.}

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:\par\tab I afflicted my soul with fasting;\par\tab And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother:\par\tab I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, {\i which is} your spiritual service.

I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.

(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds),casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;

{\b For the Chief Musician. Maschil of the sons of Korah.}\par\par\tab As the hart panteth after the water brooks,\par\tab So panteth my soul after thee, O God.My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:\par\tab When shall I come and appear before God?

My knees are weak through fasting;\par\tab And my flesh faileth of fatness.

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks.I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, {\i that they are} the enemies of the cross of Christ:whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and {\i whose} glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.}\par

Grant thee thy heart's desire,\par\tab And fulfil all thy counsel.

But seek ye first the kingdom {\i of God}, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Create in me a clean heart, O God;\par\tab And renew a right spirit within me.Cast me not away from thy presence;\par\tab And take not thy holy Spirit from me.Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;\par\tab And uphold me with a willing spirit.

But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would.

So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.\par

And he said unto them, {\cf6 This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer.}\par

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.\par

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.

And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they {\i do it} to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.\par

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Prayer